City residents still in possession of Waste Management garbage tags were given their final reminder by City Manager Spencer Nebel early today. The deadline for redeeming garbage tags is Friday.

“They will be redeemable at full face value,” said Nebel, urging anyone with leftover tags to return them to the City Treasurer’s Office at 225 E. Portage Ave. before the deadline. Those in possession of the tags will have the option of taking a cash refund or applying the rebate toward their water account.

Waste Management tags that are not returned by March 1 will become worthless as there does not appear to be any avenue beyond Friday to recover any of the invested money.

“It’s an absolute deadline,” Nebel confirmed.

The change was prompted in October of 2012 when the City of Sault Ste. Marie opted to accept a bid from Smith Sanitation of Rudyard — cutting its long-term ties with Waste Management for residential garbage removal. The Smith Sanitation bid came in at $1.60 per tag as opposed to $1.82 per tag for Waste Management. While the city does not have any direct financial ties related to the residential waste collection, the board of commissioners unanimously approved the lower bid — calculating it would save the average resident approximately $20 a year, according to figures generated at that session.

On Feb. 4, Smith Sanitation took over residential waste collection throughout the city and Nebel seemed pleased with the result after nearly a month with the new vendor.

“So far, the transition has gone quite smoothly,” he said, adding it has gone even better than expected.

In the first month or so of operation, Smith Sanitation has maintained the existing garbage routes and times established by Waste Management for collection. At some point in the future, those may be adjusted to better suit the new company’s needs, but city officials have provided assurances that there will be plenty of notification given to customers before any changes are made in the future.